· January, 2006

Stories about Singapore from January, 2006

Singapore: Baby Makers

30 January 2006

Illusio discusses the release of the official figures for the 2005 birth rate in Singapore. It increased slightly above 1% — a big deal for the country, which has experienced declining birth rates in recent years.

The Year of the Dog Comes to the Rest of East Asia

  29 January 2006

“Da Hong Deng Long” (Big Red Lantern) by Yining Zhang Blogs all around East and Southeast Asia have gone grey this past weekend as many, particularly those in the overseas Chinese community, celebrate the Lunar New Year. As part of Global Voices Online's continuing celebration of the arrival of the...

Singapore: “Cheering” Conservatism

27 January 2006

Heavenly Sword “sings” the praises of a conservative Singapore. “What I want to say is really this: that Singapore will always be conservative. And the proxy that I have used in this short essay is the censorship of expressions of sexuality. Sex, lust, and liberal attitudes must not be tolerated...

Singapore: Confucian Democracy

26 January 2006

From a Singapore Angle explains that, when Singapore policy makers say that the country's path follows a “Confucian” way or reflects Asian values, it's really talking not to Singaporeans or to other Asians but to world opinion leaders, particularly that of the Liberal West.

Singapore, Indonesia: The Rules of Online Auctioning

24 January 2006

Indonesia-born Rani of indrani.net tries to sell her personal digital assistant online in Singapore and discovers what happens when the online marketplace meets the natural Asian propensity to haggle.

Singapore: Poetry Blog

24 January 2006

Singaporean banker-poet Gilbert Koh publishes his poems on blogspot. Read his latest: Accident.

Singapore: Fragile State?

23 January 2006

A Xeno Boy in Sg posts a meditation on a quote from a government minister, who predicted dire consequences if the public supported an opposition party's proposal to scrap the country's ethnic integration policies. He writes: “When the notion that “racial harmony will be destroyed” is invoked in this manner...

Global Fusion: Creating Delicious Food One Meal at the Time!

  21 January 2006

#1: Madrid Fusion My colleague Chef Elena was in Spain with three other Panamanian chefs, for the  world famous "Madrid Fusion" one week event, held in the beautiful city of Madrid. No doubt this is an incredible event. It will set the course for the emerging and extravagant cooking techniques,...

Singapore: Closed Door

20 January 2006

Recently, several prominent Singapore bloggers were invited to a “closed door” meeting held by a well-connected think tank. The meeting was called “Blogging and the Law.” Sintercom. org wonders if the meeting was a prelude to government legislation against bloggers, while Singabloodypore thinks “it was probably just a cosy chat....

Singapore: Victim of its Own Success

20 January 2006

The annotated budak writes down his thoughts about Singapore blog aggregator tomorrow.sg: as it becomes a one-stop shop for the Singapore blogosphere, people are expecting far more than it can deliver. Has it become a victim of its own success?

Singapore: Closet Agenda?

18 January 2006

Blogs in Singapore are discussing a recent government grant to a group known as “Liberty League,” formed to help “gays and lesbians understand their sexual identity.” Sayoni Speak, a new queer blog, writes that the group's name is misleading — it's actually a Christian group of ex-homosexuals “trying to ‘stamp...

Singapore: Blog Reader Species

17 January 2006

Crap & Such from Singapore catalogs the five different kinds of blog readers, such as “the lurker” and “the howler.”

Singapore: Blog “Queen” in Another Controversy

16 January 2006

Recall Xiaxue, who soon after New Year's 2006 started an online petition to ban aerosol foam sprays from Singapore after unhappy encounters with both foam sprays and Bangladeshi foreign workers on New Year's Eve? No you don't. But many Singapore bloggers do. Some have accused her of thinly-veiled racism against...

Singapore: George Soros’ Speech

13 January 2006

Huichieh Loy at From a Singapore Angle comments on a speech given by financier George Soros in Singapore criticizing the country's lack of an open society.

Singapore: Demystifying Detoxification

12 January 2006

Haro Singapore! investigates a local fad — feet detoxification — and finds reasons to doubt that an electrified foot bath can really pull out poisons from one's body.

Singapore: Debater Talks Debate

  11 January 2006

Singaporean student debater Shaun Lee posts some observations on his blog Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc on how the dissolution of Asian confidence after the economic and political crises of the late 1990s has led to opportunities for new thought: “The triumphantism of Asian Democracy and Asian Values were contingent...

Singapore: Kidney Fund Scandal

5 January 2006

Big in the Singapore blogosphere is continuing discussion over the National Kidney Fund, a popular and large local charity that had been plagued by scandal since the middle of last year. The discussion was reinvigorated by an auditors’ report that recently revealed the NKF had used only an average of...

Singapore: Against Foam Sprays

3 January 2006

Attacked by aerosol foam spray and gripped by the fear of being groped by foreign workers during New Year's on Orchard Road, Singapore's Xiaxue starts an online petition to ban them from the city-state.